What pretty cheeks they have, what pretty frocks they have!

[didnothing]

Who| Luna and you!
What| Luna tries to adjust to Panem. It's a little much, to say the least.
Where| Around the Capitol, then various places in the Training Center
When| Today
Warnings/Notes| None currently.


The Capitol
When Luna's taken to the suites and left to ponder her future, she doesn't know what to do. Waking up from what she knew had been her death, hearing she was going to be participating in another game, being expected to kill others as part of that game...she can't go through with all that again, she just can't. It's not long before she starts to feel a need for something more open - fewer walls, more nature if she can find it. Her body feels heavy and alien too, and the thought of staying inside makes her chest hurt. Leaving the Training Center makes her anxious too, but there are no locked doors on the way out and she knows there are people outside, she'd seen them as she was being escorted by the Peacekeepers. So when she steps outside...

It's almost overwhelming. All the colors, all the noise, all the people. Luna's only seen scenes like this in old records, and experiencing it for real is astounding - and intimidating. Curiosity wins over timidness but just barely, so she wanders the streets trying to stay out of people's way (difficult, given the bustling streets) and glances at colorful displays with a mixture of admiration and hesitation. She's not yet sure she's ready to go inside anywhere; shyness has been her cover before, but now the truth of it is coming back to bite.

Training Center (gym, rooftop, District 6 suites)
Eventually Luna returns to the Training Center, because she can only stay outside for so long. She stops by the training sublevel first, quickly recognizing how out of place she is among the people gathered. The gym is for people who want to improve themselves and increase their chances at survival and victory. Survival is something that appeals to Luna, but victory...isn't. She lingers there a little longer, just to observe and maybe talk with one or two people, but it's not too long before she goes exploring further.

And while the Training Center makes her uneasy, the rooftop doesn't. Even the Capitol doesn't have a lot of nature, so when she looks around and browses the gardens something in her heart settles down a little. She spends a while sitting near the edge of the roof looking down at the city below, and thinking of happy things. The whirlwind of life in the Capitol, the freedom of leaving the facility, surviving on her own outside. The fact that she's alive at all to see this right now. Not dying alone, but getting to be with...

When Luna starts crying, she takes that as her cue to leave. As far as she knows she's alone, but she could have missed something and she doesn't want anyone to see her like this right now. She sticks around for a few moments longer to compose herself, and then starts to head back down to the District 6 suites to see who else is there. It seems that she's going to be here for a while longer, after all. She'll need to figure out what she can do in the days ahead.

Comments

[ka_sera_sera]

"An hour? Newer than I thought. And out here already. When I got here a few arenas back, I didn't set foot outside the tower for a while." It hadn't been fear keeping him inside, although Roland will not mind at all if that's what Luna assumes. He isn't going to go into an explanation of the particular moment the gamemakers had taken him from, not even in his own mind, one that had taken at least a day to recover from.

"And I'd tell you how they did it if I knew." He does know a little, actually, knows what was on one of the rebel's network posts some time back. Outdated information now, likely, because Roland isn't useful to the rebellion and knows next to nothing about any of it. Still, he sometimes wonders what became of their plans to build their own machine, identical to the one the gamemakers apparently use. Doesn't wonder often, because there's no point to it. Certainly no point to saying so now, even if it weren't too dangerous to consider.

"I know when we come back after, it's in the same state as when we first arrived. When I return all my injuries are gone, and my friend the Signless had to accustom himself to Capitol food again after each of his arenas. I know these," and here he holds up those fingers that had so caught her attention, "are pressed into me anew when I wake up. I also know that this place can be a great deal different from what most of us are used to. What do you make of it? Found anything interesting yet?"

[didnothing]

The idea that it might be unusual to leave the tower so soon comes as a surprise, and makes Luna slightly uneasy (or embarrassed) with the memory of how quickly she fled earlier. She knows it would have been even harder to process the situation had she stayed, but still it feels like a reminder that bravery has never been her strong point. Even venturing out here she has to battle shyness, and only a mix of avoidance of the suites and genuine wonder at her surroundings is keeping her from hurrying back.

One of those things has been good for her, though, so she chooses to focus on that. "Well, I've never seen anything like this place before. It's so--so colorful, and busy. It's very different from my home. It's hard to believe that a place like this can take people and tell them to die...over and over, if what you're saying is correct." She eyes Roland's fingers with some apprehension, recalling what he'd said about having them pressed into him. Was that a painful process? Why would they do something like that?

But then again, Sigma is here and that means putting people into that kind of situation is within the range of possibilities. It's crueler than she would have expected of him, but still possible. She amends her statement. "No, I guess it's not hard. Just confusing."

[ka_sera_sera]

"Confusing," Roland repeats, looking almost as if he's studying her as he says it. Not because she's said something odd, but because that's far enough from his own first instincts about a place like this that he has to walk himself through the reasoning. "Why do you say so? I'd think a people whose ways are so much more extravagant than my own would have extravagant traditions, too."

Roland puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head back, looking up toward the tops of the - to him, at least - high, stylized buildings. His voice isn't too obviously dry, isn't too obviously careful, but those things are there, aye. It's the most he can do to warn her to watch what she says, and he thinks things will go better for her if she's perceptive enough to pick up on that. That hint of a tone, the suggestion in his posture that his words here aren't really so casual. "And I think you'll find tradition is what it is. A fine tradition, going back a fair piece of time. Even before the gamemakers invited us here to help them in it."

[didnothing]

Luna catches on that there's something more to his words, and although she doesn't yet know quite what it means - is someone in the crowd listening in? Could there be another significance to the "tradition"? - it's enough to up her guard a little bit. She wasn't made to be indiscreet, after all, even if she isn't especially good at guile either.

She can already guess that there's something going on with the Hunger Games. Roland calls it a tradition, and the people who brought her to the suites had treated her participation as an honor. Those point to some sort of purpose, something that would benefit this place. (She's pretty sure that Sigma's involvement also says that, but she has even less idea of his intentions here than she did in the Nonary Game.) All of that doesn't mean that the death involved is any less horrible, but it does mean that there may be more meaning to the Games here than simple entertainment.

That's where her speculation ends, though. She'll need more information to guess any more. "Where I come from, things are much different than they are here. We don't have much by way of tradition...I never imagined some of them could turn out like this. Could you please tell me more about it?"

[ka_sera_sera]

"I'm no expert," he says, looking down from the buildings and back to her. He's only noting it, though, and continues without much of a pause. "You'll want to look into this yourself, too, if you're doing it. But it'll hurt nothing to start you off. This kingdom isn't only its capitol city. It's got baronies too - districts, they call them here. There are, ah, twelve." If that 'ah' sounds a little odd, well, it's meant to. Because the most influential district is the one the Capitol likes to pretend does not exist.

"The districts rose up against their Capitol. I don't know the details of that war. What I do know is what I was told - that the Capitol began their games as a reminder. Every tribute who wins gains food and wealth for their district, and those districts - as well as the rest of us - are reminded of just how generous the Capitol can be." Generous. He doesn't expand on that. Easy enough to read between the lines there, he's certain.

"But your own world. In all my travels I've never heard of a place with no tradition. Even my Gilead, with all its lost history, had a fair few. What kind of place do you come from, if you don't mind the question?"

[didnothing]

That information is all new to Luna: districts, wars, so-called generosity. It's important information, and she wonders why she wasn't told any of it by the people who greeted her or escorted her to the tower. At least, she would have expected the part about earning food for the districts. The rest she can see being selectively ignored, unfortunately. Luna's not getting any answers about that right now, though, so she turns her attention to Roland's question.

"No, it's all right. Um..." Luna has a lot of things she could say, not all of them appropriate for the moment. In a way she can see a resemblance or two between her home and this city now, and more than a few contrasts. The use of deadly games fits in both categories, but she doesn't want to bring that up right now. Otherwise, it's mostly the differences left. "People are more spread out where I come from. There aren't really any cities, just settlements, and even those aren't very large. Mine housed just a few people other than myself. Things might have been different elsewhere, but...I've never seen anything else." Technically she hasn't been anywhere else either, but the end result is the same.

[ka_sera_sera]

"Then your people must either be near their end, or their beginning." This is a matter in which Roland is honestly interested. He wouldn't call himself a historian, not if anyone asked, because that was one of the many subjects covered by his tutor in which Roland ever did lag behind all his mates. But the cycle of it, the way all kingdoms pass through that cycle in their own way, eventually, that is a matter on which he does know a little. And learning a few things of far and foreign lands will always be plenty worthwhile.

"More usually the former than the latter," he notes, but absently, because something's occurring to him. Nothing big, only that they might do with a change of scenery. "Miss Luna, I didn't mean to keep you idle on the street talking to me. I'd like to buy you a drink, but the days when a tribute could afford that are well gone. Care for a walk? Anywhere in particular you were headed before I bumped into you?"

[didnothing]

Luna doesn't respond to the part about her home being near its end. He's hit upon the truth there, after all. Roland's invitation is the more striking topic, both in its implications (were Tributes given certain privileges at some point? Was it part of earning things for the districts?) and in its base offer. She supposes that he wants to talk more...it's not unwelcome, but the sentiment in relation to her is new.

She shakes her head to signal that no, she doesn't have a destination in mind at the moment. "I was just looking around the city until I met you. Um, a walk...a walk would be nice. Do you know where we could go? If there's a park here, I haven't seen one yet." And hopefully she has just missed any parks that are around here, she thinks. She hasn't seen much by way of nature and greenery so far, and a place as large and full of life as the Capitol ought to have at least a little bit of those things.

[ka_sera_sera]

"Mhm." Roland lifts his chin to look over the crowd, evaluating how best to move through it. He seldom had to try hard to look over the heads of any crowd in his world, but though people aren't any taller, they have wigs. They have things in those wigs. He makes a habit of not looking too close at any one hairstyle. That way madness lies.

"You have parks in your world, then? You'll have to tell me if the one I'll lead you to is anything like 'em. Didn't know the word before coming here, least not that way. Come on, and stay close," he adds, heading toward the street proper at an angle that will move him with the current instead of against it. With some luck, no one will notice them and this path will lead them to a lesser-used alleyway after only a few seconds. "Ah, and if you see any Capitolite who looks a little too pleased to see us... Don't run, probably, you don't know this city well enough. Try and look busy, point me toward 'em."

And with that casual and reassuring afterthought, he sets off.

[didnothing]

Luna follows, casting a wary look at the crowd as she registers Roland's point. Is it really that dangerous out here? The alleyway they've just entered isn't as busy and there must be all sorts in a city, but danger wouldn't be the first thing that came to her mind in this time and place. Roland clearly knows Panem better than she does, though, so she trusts his judgement and keeps an eye out for people. Trying to ferret out anyone who looks suspicious is a difficult task given that before today Luna's known all of ten people throughout her entire life, so Luna settles instead for looking for anyone who seems actively unsettling. None of those right now, at least.

And as long as they seem to be in no immediate danger, she decides to take the opportunity to make a small correction. "I think I ought to say...I've never seen a real park before. But I've seen pictures, and I can tell you how they compare to where we're going." Luna's no longer connected to the Rhizome's central computer so she can't reference the records directly, but she has spent enough time looking at them longingly that she has a general idea of what parks might look like anyway. That's probably enough.

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland nods, noting those facts about her home. Parks-that-were, and photographs. "If it's trees you're looking for," he says, looking around and taking a turn up a slightly more crowded street, "you'll see plenty soon enough. The newer man in charge of the arenas likes to make them as they used to be, before the offworlders came. More trees than machines."

"Park's not far now, unless some fan or other finds us. Finds me, I guess, at least until they get wind of you. Hope you like being the center of attention, or at least have practiced at it. You'll need it, once this coming arena's finished."

[didnothing]

"What?!" Luna's exclamation isn't quite a shout, but the sharp rise in pitch conveys her shock well enough. She's quiet for a second, briefly embarrassed by the outburst, and quiets down for her next question - although her disbelief is still very much evident. "Um, what do you mean by center of attention? How long is it until the arena's finished?"

There's a couple other questions hidden in those, most of which she doesn't know how to ask. Things like "What if I'm not prepared for attention?" and "What happens if I'm not good enough?" Being the center of attention is pretty much the opposite of what Luna ever expected for herself, and the sudden turn is a little disorienting. It's enough that she almost forgets the mention of trees in the arena, and the things that fact might imply. Things are a little hard to put together right now...

[ka_sera_sera]

So she doesn't like attention. Alright. He turns a look on her, bland, at the outburst, but knows it'll get them no attention here. Not on a street of the Capitol, with all this other noise. "Not sure when it'll start, but arenas usually end after a few weeks. Maybe over a month," he says, making his way down yet another street and heading toward a little building-free patch in the not-so-distant distance. "Couldn't tell you precisely, I'm not used to being able to keep time for so long."

"And what I mean is exactly what I said. They're called games for a reason, and these people call to be entertained even outside of them. Our lives are theirs in almost every sense. They watch our days and nights in the arenas as many times as pleases them and pry into our lives outside that, gossip about it over their 'broadcast networks' and call it news. If you didn't need to practice for the arena I'd tell you to get used to that - call on someone, maybe, for not all of us came here well versed in dealing with it. Alain, I think, of district seven. Ask after him if you have time. Seems like he'd suit you, and if I recall it rightly he never did care for the trappings of court back in our day. What are you used to, miss Luna? I won't ask if you think you can handle life here, because you don't properly know what it is yet. But what kind of life did you have back in your own world? I take it nothing similar?"

[didnothing]

"Um..." Ah, there's an awkward explanation, although to be fair to her superiors it's her personality as much as her circumstances that make the prospect of so much attention slightly terrifying. From what Roland's spirit it sounds like she might have a kindred spirit of sorts - Alain, was it? - but right now it hardly seems appropriate to talk about half of what she could say.

She takes a special interest in the ground then, a little embarrassed to admit her own faults and more than a little mortified at the idea of being watched by everyone in this city. "No, it's not very similar. I told you I lived somewhere with a few other people. Well, I've always been shy and most of the time everyone just did their own thing, so I've never really had people's attention for long. I've never needed it, either. I don't think I'm much of an interesting person...I don't know if there will be much to talk about, or for me to show. Is that something you have to prepare for?" That's a lie, there are certainly things about her that people could talk about, but if they start covering her true nature as a GAULEM then it's not going to be her idea anyway.

[ka_sera_sera]

"If you've never spoken to more than a few people at a time I don't know if you can prepare for it. Can't prepare for a thing you don't know the feel of. Here we are, park's just in there." He nods toward it, heading toward the entrance. It isn't grand enough to draw many in, as a city like this may never consider it a - what's that phrase they use? Hot Spot? Nevermind. It won't be popular. But after the Signless and that boy, Gary, had their concert here a few Capitolites come from time to time. He eyes one with clear suspicion, eyes the large blue horns sprouting from her hair.

"Step lightly, this way," he jerks his head in the direction opposite from the one that particular Capitolite is facing, walking swiftly toward it. "The ones wearing horns are likely attached to the Signless, which means that one may have questions for me. Maybe I ought to speak to her so you'll see what it's like, may do later if you're curious. But as for preparation, coming out into the city was a fair first step, having only ever met a few at a time as you have, and shy as you are. What made you do it?"

[didnothing]

Luna can't help but glance at the horned woman as she follows Roland, and it gives her a second to think about her reasons. Or how to express them, at least; she knows very well why she's out here right now. "I was upset, when I was left alone in that tower. It's been difficult to be out here, but when I left it was even more difficult to stay where I was. And I've wanted to see the city for a long time. I saw some of this place when they were escorting me, and it's so...big." There's a lot of meaning behind that word, amazement and intimidation rolled into one, but on the whole of it she's okay right now. She's going to be okay.

But there still are a lot of things she doesn't quite understand about Panem yet, and the horned woman is one of them. "So, um...what is the Signless? What does it have to do with you?" Her thoughts go to Dio and the Myrmidons, another organization with some less than pleasant members, but chances are that the people involved here aren't active murderers. Probably.

[ka_sera_sera]

"I told you that every part of our lives becomes fuel for their gossip. For the people of this city." Roland looks up and around as he talks, obviously appreciating the sights. At least so much as much as his long, solemn face can be said to appreciate anything. This may not be his first visit to the place, but decades of his life before this city was spent surrounded by trees and grass, or at the very least by sky. All the city's buildings, grand and awe inspiring as they still are to him, tend to crowd that out, and so he drinks it in whenever he can find it. He'll slow and stop if she seems to show interest in any particular plant or flower, but for now he is content to amble around the edges of this park.

"Our love lives most especially so. As a boy I became well used to gossip about that; what sort of woman I might wed, what kind of babes she may bear. Whether I'd planted a child already, in the way of many young men, and left some young mother forgotten behind me. That sort of thing. It's nothing to the ways of these folk, of course, but it's something. More than you've got. Any man - or woman, here - that you've got your eye on, or even seem to, will be the business of every man woman and child in this city. As for the Signless, he's a tribute too, or was before he won an arena, and he has his share of followers - fans, they call 'em here - most of whom want very badly to speak to me. Likely to ask about him. But perhaps, from a small group of settlers as you are, you'll be used to all around you knowing all there is to know about your business. Is it not so, in your world? Might help you here, if your home is anything like any other small town I've ever passed through."

[didnothing]

The park is large and bright, and although it's manicured in a way not unlike the Rhizome's botanical garden just being here in the open air makes it feel different somehow. Luna feels her mood lifted, just getting to be here. She does glance towards the horned woman once more, but nothing seems to be wrong right now so she focuses on following Roland and surveying the park as she listens to his explanation.

"So you and the Signless...?" Well. Good for Roland then, topic of gossip or not. Love is--well, Luna imagines that human love is a little bit different from the way she's always understood it. But the love she feels is precious to her and she can't see that being any different for humans. Even better for Roland if it's returned. She smiles. "I guess I should say congratulations. As for my home...you could say that. Not about love, exactly, but people were close." And things hadn't always been that way, but even just observing the human inhabitants of the Rhizome from outside the family Luna had known the changes were for the better.

[ka_sera_sera]

Roland raises his eyebrows at the congratulations, feels the corners of his lips start to rise, just a little. Odd to be congratulated for something like that, but Luna's congratulations sound very different from all those he'd gotten from fans and newsmen, back when their coupling had been new. When this new tribute says it, it feels genuine. "Thankee s- sa- s-s-sir." Roland sighs. "Cry your pardon. Miss Luna. Afraid I'm still not used to watching my speech as maybe I ought. Do you have any questions? Or would you rather only walk a while? I know this may be too much to take in all at once."

[didnothing]

"Let's just...walk." Luna feels less overloaded than she did in the streets, both because of the relative openness of the park and because there's someone with her now, but she's still not completely over the idea that they're in a real park right now. Company aside, she would be content just to explore for a while.

"It's so nice here," she muses as she examines a flower bed. "I mean, not everything. But this, right now...I can think of worse things to be doing." She's not entirely sure how to take it all - Earth, the Hunger Games, the tradition and the war and the attention. It is a lot, and the bottom line is still a lot of violence and suffering and many other things that go against what she believes. But at this exact moment she feels happy to be here, and despite everything that's happened Luna still finds value in that.

[ka_sera_sera]

"So can I," Roland says, and from anyone else in this city that might be a flirtation. Pretty young girl, new and off balance and vulnerable - his old friend Cuthbert, he thinks absently, would probably already be trying to charm her. Roland does not mean it to be charming, he just means it. It isn't the flowers he's looking at when he says it, either, it's the trees, still the canopy and the view of the sky through them that holds his eye. That sky doesn't seem so large and endless as it used to in his old life and his old world, but when he looks up at it he can still remember a little of what that life was like.

"The city's very beautiful, too, in its way," Roland says, once he pulls his mind back into the present. "Overwhelming, though, if you're not used to it. I'll stay with you a little while, so once you're done I can walk you back. Cities are bad places to get lost in, especially for someone like you."

[didnothing]

"You will?" It's a kind offer, and one Luna feels grateful for. She has enjoyed her time out in the city, in parts if not whole, but Roland's company more than anything has helped steady her nerves - not to mention the fact that she still doesn't completely know her way around the city yet. Even though she feels a little weaker for relying on him, she'll be glad to have him to help on the way back to the tower as well. "Thank you. I appreciate it. Just a little longer, okay? I promise."

Luna smiles at him to show her gratitude, and makes sure to take in the sights in the park. She doesn't want to keep Roland waiting, but sooner or later they'll be going back anyway and it's worth it to savor this while she can.